JAMES H. QUILLEN VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER
(JOHNSON CITY)
MOUNTAIN HOME, TN. 37684
June 27, 2013
MEDICAL CENTER MEMORANDUM
NO…………………………...151-13-02
POLICY FOR ALLOCATION OF RESEARCH TIME
1. PURPOSE: This memorandum is published to establish policy for allocation of
research time for staff of James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC).
2. SCOPE: The contents of this memorandum apply to all organizational elements of
this medical center including JHQVAMC and all affiliated outpatient clinics.
3. POLICY: The primary mission of JHQVAMC is to provide high quality medical care
to Veterans. Within the limits allowed by this primary mandate, it is the policy of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to support research activity.
a. 10 percent time (1/8 = 5 hours FTE) will be allocated for discharge of duties and
responsibilities as the Research and Development Committee (R&DC) Chairperson and
the Subcommittee for Research Safety (SRS) Chairperson.
b. 20 percent time (2/8 = 10 hours FTE) as appropriate, may be recommended for
discharge of duties and responsibilities as the Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson of the
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and Institutional Review Board
(IRB) committees.
c. 5 percent time (0.5/8 = 2.5 hours FTE) will be allocated for discharge of duties and
responsibilities as a voting member of the Research & Development (R&D) and SRS
committees.
d. 10 percent time (1/8 = 5 hours FTE) will be allocated for discharge of duties and
responsibilities as a voting member of the IRB and IACUC committees.
e. On the recommendation of the service chief, a health care professional may be
considered for approval of research time (where such time involves working as a
principal or co-investigator on projects that have been approved by the R&DC). Up to
20 percent time (2/8 = 10 hours FTE), as appropriate, may be recommended.
f. 3/8 = 15 hours FTE can be requested for Principal Investigators (PIs) of major
funded projects (e.g., VA, NIH, Industry Sponsored). See Appendix B for additional
research activities and the associated ORD-recommended FTE.
MEDICAL CENTER MEMORANDUM
NO……...……………………151-13-02
g. Time spent on patient care activities cannot be allocated to research in the
Decision Support System (DSS) or on the Cost Distribution Report (CDR) even when
the activities are occurring as part of an R&DC approved research project (as specified
in the official DSS instructions in Appendix A).
h. In the case of studies conducted by part time employees, the percent effort will be
prorated between VA and non-VA time.
i. Approval for research time may be rescinded, at the discretion of the Director, if the
ongoing research is deemed not to warrant continued time allocation or on the basis of
changes in clinical care imperatives.
4. ACTION/RESPONSIBILITY:
a. Service chiefs will assign research time in DSS and on the CDR in accordance
with these stated policies. Service chiefs will ensure that the assignments reflect the
actual work being performed, and that the DSS and CDR assignments correlate.
b. The Research and Development Office must be notified of all DSS labor mapping
assignments that include a research component. After review by the Service Chief, the
research assignment requests will be forwarded through the Associate Chief of
Staff/R&D to the Chief of Staff (COS) and finally to the Medical Center Director (MCD)
for approval. The request will be returned to the initiating Service for submission to the
DSS Office.
5. REFERENCES: DSS Instructions for Mapping Labor to Research Support
VHA Directive 2005-057, “Physician and Dentist Labor Mapping”
ORD Research Administrative Review Report, Sept 2009
6. RESCISSION: Medical Center Memorandum 151-11-01
7. RESCISSION DATE: June 27, 2016
8. FOLLOW-UP RESPONSIBILITY: Associate Chief of Staff of Research &
Development (151)
//s//
Charlene S. Ehret, FACHE
Medical Center Director
Attachments:
Appendix A - DSS Instructions for Mapping Labor to Research Support
Appendix B – Guideline for Research Allocation Time
2
APPENDIX A
MEDICAL CENTER MEMORANDUM
NO…………………………...151-13-02
DSS INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAPPING LABOR
TO RESEARCH SUPPORT
Overview
Research support within the medical care appropriation is one of the primary missions
of Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Accuracy in recording the cost of that mission
is imperative. In order for VHA funding methods (VERA) to have accurate data to use in
their methodology, accuracy, and standardization in costing research support is critical.
Excess costs mapped to research support could negatively impact the amount of
resources available for direct patient care at a VAMC. Insufficient costs mapped to
research support could reduce the dollars allotted for this purpose as part of the VERA
model for your VAMC. Also note that the square footage tables in DSS used for indirect
cost allocation must be kept current for proper research support costing.
What is research support time?

A VA employee’s time spent working on research that is approved by the local
VAMC Research and Development (R&D) Committee.

A VA employee’s time spent as a member of the VAMC’s R&D Committee or
Human Subjects Committee preparing for and attending meetings.

A VA employee’s time spent as a senior staff member mentoring a junior staff
member who has received a Career Development Award in research.
How to adjust to 80 hours per pay period?
After identifying the research projects and the investigators, it is necessary to accurately
allocate the investigators’ time to research support. An investigator on the Medical Care
roll has as their first responsibility the care of the patients. Therefore, a full time
physician working 90 hours during the pay period and spending 30 of these hours on a
research project would show only 25 percent of his time as research support rather than
33 1/3 percent – the reason being the FTEE is calculated on a basis of 80 hours per pay
period regardless of how much time is actually worked. The difference between the
hours the employee should work and the hours spent in patient care, if due to research,
will determine the hours for research support. See the example below:
A-1
APPENDIX A
MEDICAL CENTER MEMORANDUM
NO…………………………...151-13-02

90 hours worked per PP
= 80 paid hours

30 hours worked per PP
= 60 patient care hours
60 patient care hours per PP
= 20 adjusted research hours

What is NOT research support time?

All patient care of veterans, even if the care is part of an approved research
protocol, is considered clinical care time in DSS.

Time spent gathering data that is not for a previously approved research
protocol.
1. Non-research support example: Dentists reviewing the last three years’
experience with specific dental products for a management report.
2. Non-research support example: Chaplains performing a follow-up review of
patient outcomes for a Clinical Pastoral Education or other management
study that is not a pre-approved research protocol.

Time spent by a VA employee reading or attending lectures in recent research
that is not related to the VA employee’s approved research protocol(s).
Questions:
If you have questions regarding what is Medical Care Appropriation Paid Research
Support Labor in your VAMC, please see the VAMC’s ACOS for Research.
Remember only labor time spent on R&DC-approved research projects can be
considered research time in DSS.
A-2
APPENDIX B
MEDICAL CENTER MEMORANDUM
NO…………………………...151-13-02
The following table provides guidance for research time allocation. It applies to clinician
researchers, i.e. researchers who also have clinical care duties. Protected research
time is defined as time allocated to carrying out research activities during a clinician’s
regular tour of duty and partial FTE assignments are based upon a 40 hr work week.
The appropriate time allocated for research committee activity (e.g. Institutional Review
Board, Research & Development Committee, Institutional Animal Care & Use
Committee) should be dependent on the size of the research program. The times
indicated are based on allocations for research committee activities at medium to large
research facilities. Manuscript review and preparation, consulting on study design,
steering committee and DSMB memberships by themselves should not receive
protected time allocation.
Research Activity
RecorRRecommended FTE (per 40 hour
workweek)
PI Merit Review
3/8
15 hours
Chair on VA CSP
4/8
20 hours
Site PI on Merit/VA CSP
1/8-2/8
4-8 hours
PI NIH RO1*
3/8*
15 hours
VA Career Development Award (CDA)
6/8
30 hours
Major Foundation Awards
1/8-2/8
4-8 hours
Principal Investigator of VA Center of
Excellence
4/8
20 hours
Mentor of VA CDA
0.5/8
2.5 hours
New investigator
2/8-4/8
10-20 hours
Chair, IRB or IACUC
2/8-4/8
10-20 hours
Chair IBC/SRS or R&D C
1/8
4 hours
Member, IRB, IACUC
1/8
4 hours
Member, IBC/SRS, R&D C
0.5/8
2.5 hours
B-1